Today: The National Magazine Company, Hearst Corporation's principal business in the UK, announces the appointment of Meribeth Parker as Group Publishing Director of the Young Women's Group (SHE, Company and Zest), following the appointment earlier this month of Justine Southall to Publishing Director for Cosmopolitan.
In addition, NatMag is re-organising its portfolio to give Publishing Directors, Liz Kershaw and Matt Salmon additional responsibility. Liz Kershaw will add House Beautiful to the Women's Interest group, incorporating, Good Housekeeping, goodhousekeeping.co.uk, Country Living, countryliving.co.uk, Coast and, now, House Beautiful. Matt Salmon will add You and Your Wedding, Cosmopolitan Bride and youandyourwedding.co.uk to the Lifestyle group of Prima, Prima Baby and babyexpert.co.uk. The Luxury publishing group (Harper's Bazaar and Esquire) will remain unchanged under the direction of Tess Macleod Smith.
Jessica Burley, Managing Director, The National Magazine Company comments:
"We have taken the decision to adjust our publishing structure to provide greater focus on the core clients and audiences served by our publications. We have some of the most experienced Publishing Directors in the magazine industry and this new structure allows us to capitalise on their considerable personal experience in these markets."
NatMag has also undertaken a complete review of its portfolio and concluded that despite considerable investment and nearly six years of development, the Company will cease publication of the UK edition of brand extension CosmoGIRL! with the August edition. NatMag hopes to be able to find the editorial team alternative roles within the business.
The Company will continue to explore the young women's market with an extended test period for Jellyfish. Originally conceived as a teenage online magazine, Jellyfish will now focus more directly on an older age group of 18-25. It is expected that the test period for Jellyfish will run until September.
Duncan Edwards, Chief Executive, The National Magazine Company comments:
"The magazine environment is a challenging one at the moment and keeping ahead requires us to continually think about how we do things. These changes will give additional focus and expertise to our core business areas and ensure that we continue to grow and develop in the future."
For further information please contact:
Jane Wynyard
Communications Manager
National Magazine Company
Phone: 02074395211
Mobile: 07872836722
Email: jane.wynyard@natmags.co.uk
Notes to editors
About The National Magazine Company
The National Magazine Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation established by William Randolph Hearst in 1910.
The business comprises the core wholly owned business, also called The National Magazine Co and interests in three Joint Ventures. These are partnerships with some of the world's best publishers as follows:
ACP-NatMag:
A 50:50 JV with ACP of Australia which focuses on weekly magazines.
NatMag Rodale:
A 50:50 JV with Rodale Inc. of the USA which focuses on health and wellbeing.
COMAG:
A 65:35 JV with Conde Nast, one of the UK's largest magazine distributors.
NatMag publishes 14 consumer titles in the UK: Coast, Company, Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan Bride, Country Living, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful, Prima, Prima Baby, SHE, You & Your Wedding, and Zest. The group publishes a further two magazines, Men's Health and Runner's World, through NatMag Rodale and three large scale weeklies, Best , Reveal and Real People through ACP-NatMag.
NatMag division, Hearst Digital Network, publishes a number of community websites for NatMag magazines and also includes the Handbag network and www.netdoctor.co.uk, the UK's leading consumer health site.
